Jofo's Blog

I believe I've mentioned this product before, but I want to make a blog post specifically for Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch. It's one of the best products I've personally used for covering up oily skin. It's not amazing, but it works better than just about any other mattifying product I've used. I still get some shininess breaking through after...

As promised in my previous entry, I bought some magnesium citrate today after reading that it had comparable oil-absorbing effects to Milk of Magnesia without the annoying white, chalky appearance. I applied the magnesium citrate to just the right side of my nose for easier comparison and left it on for 3 hours. Right away I saw one drawback in magne...

As you can tell, I pretty much abandoned this blog in 2011 after I started taking low-dose isotretinoin. There is a thread on the Accutane logs board chronicling my progress, but long story short, the isotretinoin made my oil disappear almost completely while I was on it. I took it from August 2011 to December 2012, and I relished my oil-free skin that en...

Wow. It's been over half a year since my last update. It's a major disappointment to say that nothing I have tried so far has reduced my oily skin. At this point I feel like I have exhausted just about every option available to me, except for one: low-dose isotretinoin (more people probably know this as Accutane).

A couple of days ago I started using the T-Zone Serum from Skin Actives. A few of us on the oily skin board are giving it a go right now to see how it works. I had already had my eye on this serum, but then dan52 said it reduced his oily skin and that convinced me to actually buy it. I'm going to try it for at least one month.

Just a general update about my recent regimen changes and what I'm going to be experimenting with this month:

- Spearmint tea. I picked up a box of Bigelow Mint Medley (caffeine free) two days ago. Spearmint has anti-androgenic properties and some people, mostly women, have had success in using it to curb oil production. Yes, there is a risk that...

EGCg green tea extract
4 days ago I started applying EGCg green tea extract to the right side of my nose to help slow down oil production. I bought the NOW brand that contains 200mg of EGCg per capsule. I mix the EGCg with a few drops of avocado oil and water. One thing I wasn't counting on is that the EGCg extract is very grainy and doesn't...

Today is the beginning of my experiment with topical peppermint oil. The peppermint oil is the first test in my new approach of using topical anti-androgens to control sebum production on my excessively oily nose. Trying to solve the problem internally just wasn't getting me anywhere. I tried cutting out dairy, I tried zinc, I tried green tea, I tried...